


Haunted Halls

by crutchie_394



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Halloween, Haunted Houses, M/M, Panic Attacks, and i'm uploading this at 11:44 pm on Halloween, gotta have a Halloween fic out on Halloween, y'all it's SPOOPY season
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 00:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16482815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crutchie_394/pseuds/crutchie_394
Summary: Finch couldn’t remember the last Halloween he hadn’t spent walking through some sort of haunted house or forest. Granted, this would be the first one he went through alone, but there was a first time for everything. He’d be fine, right?Right.~~~Finch goes through a haunted house by himself, but he definitely doesn't come out the exit alone.





	Haunted Halls

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY HALLOWEEN I HOPE Y'ALL HAD AN AWESOME DAY
> 
> here's my promised (on tumblr) spoopy fic! it's not as great as I wish it was, but it's not the worst thing i've ever written. Enjoy!

Finch stood on his toes to look over the top of someone’s head. At the entrance to the haunted house, a couple girls were clutching each other like their lives depended on it as they handed over their tickets and walked through the doors. 

_ “Are you sure you’re okay being there alone?”  _ Elmer said over the phone, where he’d been keeping Finch company in the long line. 

“I’m fine,” Finch said. “I’ve been doing this for years with friends. It’s kinda cool to just be here by myself.”

_ “Okay,” _ Elmer said hesitantly.  _ “I mean, the place is supposed to be haunted. Sure would be a shame, huh?” _

Finch rolled his eyes. Elmer was one of his closest friends, and as much as Finch loved him and as much as Elmer loved him, Elmer also happened to love Halloween. Maybe a little too much. “I mean, it’s a haunted house. If it wasn’t haunted, I’d leave ‘em a bad review on Yelp.”

_ “Well, good luck.” _ There was some shuffling on the other end of the line.  _ “Hey, I gotta go. Me and Romeo are gonna go see that new Halloween movie that just came out. It’s gonna be spoopy.” _

“Never say that again,” Finch said. “See ya.”

They hung up, and Finch sighed and put his phone in his pocket. He couldn’t remember the last Halloween he hadn’t spent walking through some sort of haunted house or forest. Granted, this would be the first one he went through alone, but there was a first time for everything. He’d be fine, right? 

Right.

The line crept forward until Finch was finally at the front. He had his ticket checked, then he was ushered through the doors with the rest of a group. Finch held his breath as they emptied out into a large, dark room, jumping as a boy brushed past him. He had a feeling this would be a long night.

The first few rooms of the house were standard, but without Race or Sarah standing next to him cracking jokes, they seemed different from anywhere else he’d been through. Creepy voices filled his ears, seemingly coming out of nowhere. A werewolf jumped out at them and broke free of some ropes. The sound of a chainsaw in the distance. The group huddled together like a group of penguins, but eventually, most of them charged ahead through more rooms.

Everything went normally, and nothing crashed and burned. Until Finch reached the second floor. 

The second he stepped off the stairs, a door creaked open. It echoed down the long hallway. Finch inched forward a few steps, and when he was halfway down the hall, an actor jumped out at them, wielding the chainsaw heard on the first floor. He was wearing a bloody mask and his shirt was ripped to shreds.

Through the blood-curdling screams, Finch could vaguely hear a thump behind them. He swiveled around on his heel, expecting another actor to be standing there with a toothless grin.

Instead, he met wide, petrified eyes. A boy about his age was slumped against the wall, sliding down to hit the floor. His face was pale, and even in the flickering lights, Finch could see him shaking violently. 

The group was starting to push him forwards, desperate to escape the hands of the actor that had jumped them. When the boy made no move to get up, his eyes empty and staring straight ahead, Finch broke away from the group and got to his knees. Without thinking, he grabbed the boy’s hand. 

The boy’s eyes came to life, and suddenly, he was jerking away and rearing back to land a hit. 

“Woah!” Finch said, holding his hands up. “Chill, man. It’s okay. I’m in the same boat as you.”

The boy’s hand didn’t drop. It was trembling. 

“I-I don’t kn-know you, what’s - I can’t b-breathe, he-help me, please." The boy’s hands pulled back to scratch at his throat. He closed his eyes, head against the wall, and ducked it between his knees. His shoulders were heaving up and down.

“Hey, man. It’s okay.” Finch was scrambling to remember what he knew about panic attacks, or whatever this was. “I’m, uh, I’m Finch. Like, the bird.” The boy shifted as if to lift his head, and Finch took that as a good sign. “Yeah. Don’t ask. Weird nickname from when I was a kid and my friends made it stick.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Okay. Can I touch you?”

Hesitant nod. Finch put a hand on the boy’s shoulder, and when he didn’t try to punch Finch in the face again, he started rubbing his thumb on his arm.

“What’s your name?”

The boy didn’t reply for a second. Another group was coming up the stairs, but Finch didn’t get up. Then, just when Finch was about to say he didn’t have to tell him, the boy said, “Buttons.”

“Awesome! We’re both in the nickname squad. Unless that’s your real name and I’m just an ass.”

Buttons laughed, breathlessly, like he was still trying to catch it as it slipped through his fingers. “No, it’s a nickname. My, uh, friends.”

“Cool. Did you come here with them?”

Buttons laughed again, but there was no real humor behind it. “Yeah. They ran ahead. I dunno where they are.”

Finch cursed under his breath. “Sound like a bunch of assholes to me,” he said. He looked ahead at the door, which was slowly opening again for another group. An actor standing in the corner wearing a long lab coat was looking at them as if they were about to come over to check on them. Finch turned back to Buttons and starting pulling him up under the arms. 

“Hey, are you okay to keep going? I think I saw an emergency exit back there if you need to leave.”

Buttons grimaced. “I think I’ll be okay,” he said, but he didn’t sound so sure of himself. “I’m really sorry about this, man. You don’t even know me. I’m usually not this jumpy on Halloween, but today was a rough day for, um, anxiety and stuff. Y’know.” Finch nodded sympathetically, still half-dragging him to his feet. “So. Yeah. Sorry.”

“Don’t even worry about it, dude,” Finch said. “I get it. My friend Tommy goes through these kinds of things, like, every year, and one time we went to a haunted corn maze and he fell through a bunch of corn stalks and screamed ‘cause an animatronic hand grabbed him.”

Buttons laughed. They were both on their feet now, shuffling towards the door. Buttons was holding Finch’s hand. “Jeez, tell your friend Tommy we should be friends.”

Another jump scare from beyond the door made them both flinch and cut their conversation short, the voices and noises getting louder as they went on, but neither of them made a move to let go of each other.

They made it through the rest of the haunted house. It took at least another twenty minutes of screams and moving platforms and bloody masks, but when there was finally light at the end of a dark tunnel, Finch felt like collapsing on his shaky legs. There were black spots in front of him from the strobe lights, his collar was sweaty, and his hand was warm and clammy. He glanced down. Buttons was still holding it tightly. That stretched the smile on Finch’s face even wider. 

“So,” Finch laughed, seeing the broad grin Buttons was wearing too. “We survived.”

“Barely.” Buttons swung their hands back and forth. “But yeah! And, uh, I’m still sorry about what happened back there. Sorry you got stuck with me.”

“You kidding?” Finch said. “I would’ve passed out in that last room if I didn’t have someone there with me.”

“That guy looked like he was gonna bury us alive.”

“I mean, he was holding a shovel.”

Their smiles went to each other. Finch felt a tentative squeeze on his hand, then Buttons was letting go to dig around in his pocket.

“Uh, hey!” he yelled more than said. “Do you wanna put your number in my phone, by any chance? Since we survived?”

“Oh, hell yeah.” Finch took his phone to type in his number. “We got through a life experience together. We’re bonded.”

“You can gain my automatic trust by going through a haunted house with me. That’s just a fact.”

Finch opened his mouth to crack back with a joke, but before he could: “BUTTONS!”

A short girl wearing plaid and two boys came sprinting towards them from the other side of the exit. One of the boys put his hands on either side of Buttons’ face, and the girl ruffled his hair. 

“Oh, gosh, you’re okay,” the boy said, patting his cheek and letting him go.

“I told you guys he wasn’t dead,” the girl grumbled. 

“Ya never know!” the other boy, the one that hadn’t spoken, protested. “Did you see that girl rattling the bars and screaming like a banshee? Totally a murderer.”

“Lay off, Sniper.”

As Sniper and the girl launched into an argument, the first boy looked to Buttons and launched into a ramble. 

“We’re so sorry we left you behind, dude,” he said. “We thought you were with the rest of the group! One of the staff had to split the group up to go down a different hall and when Smalls,” Finch assumed that was the girl, “said we were a group of four, there was some other girl behind us, so the worker let us through and we didn’t realize you were gone until we couldn’t go back.”

“It’s fine, JoJo,” Buttons said, swatting his shoulder lightly. “Really. I knew you guys didn’t leave me on purpose, and I met up with this guy.” He jabbed a thumb at Finch, standing awkwardly beside him. “This is Finch.”

“Hi, Finch,” JoJo said, smiling so wide Finch thought he would pull a muscle. “Thanks. I’m glad Buttons ended up alright.”

“‘Cause what would we do without our little Benji?” Smalls piped in, messing with Buttons’ hair and slinging an arm around his shoulder. “Hey, Jo, we gotta go. It’s eleven and we told Medda we’d be there at ten.”

“Shoot,” JoJo said. “Okay, let’s go. C’mon, Buttons. Don’t wanna lose you again.”

Buttons waved them off. “You guys go outside. Sniper looks kinda pale. I’ll meet you out there.” When JoJo eyed him and Finch, he raised his hands hastily. “Promise!”

That was enough for Sniper, apparently, who really did look agitated by the hot lights. He, Smalls, and JoJo left the two of them to get their crap sorted out. According to something Smalls muttered under her breath, that is.

“So, I’m hoping you’ll be calling?” Finch said, rocking on his heels. “I mean, if you want to! It’s fine if you don’t. I once gave a guy from high school my number and he said we’d keep in touch.”

Buttons raised an eyebrow. “And you didn’t? Who wouldn’t wanna be pen pals with you?”

“Uh, I guess that guy!” Finch wanted to smack himself.  _ Get yourself together. _

“Well, I don’t think I’ll be like him,” Buttons said, mimicking JoJo's huge smile. “I’ll definitely text you! We should go through that haunted corn maze you were talking about.” “Is this an excuse to hold my hand again?”

Finch said it like a joke, but Buttons went as red as the fake blood smeared on the walls. “Maybe? Sorry, uh, I’ll text you! I gotta go before JoJo rounds me up. Uh, bye!”

He paused, then leaned over and kissed Finch’s cheek, only lingering for a second. When he pulled away and Finch finally found it in himself to react, Buttons was already gone in a blur. 

Finch touched his cheek. He stood there for a minute, or maybe an hour. No matter how long he was there, stiff as a board in the middle of a room flowing with people, his phone rang. He grabbed it.

“Hello?”

_ “Finch! Figured you’d be out by now. The movie just ended. It was spoopy. How was the going-alone-in-a-haunted-house thing?” _

At the sound of Elmer’s voice, Finch broke out of his dumbfounded trance. He touched a finger to his cheek again.

“Uh,” his voice cracked, “it was good. Yeah. A lot better than good.”

_ “Some haunted house, then?” _

“Yeah.” Finch was sure Elmer could hear the smile in his voice, but he was too ecstatic to care or explain what had him floating on air. “You could definitely say that.”

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact: I wrote this in a couple hours while I was in the car to go to a haunted house. Rest assured, Finch's experience is Not based off my own. I was with my dad and brother. I'm a wimp and clung to my dad the whole time. you go, Finch, you funky gay
> 
> find me on tumblr @well-the-kids-do-too
> 
> Please leave kudos and comments if you enjoyed! They make my heart burst. Love you guys, have a good day!


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